Renovations underway at old Franciscan Health Central campus in Lafayette.

LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WLFI) — Demolition is set to begin on a nearly $15-million project at the old Franciscan Health’s Central campus.

“We started a couple of months ago cleaning out the space,” President and CEO Terry Wilson said. “Moving furniture, equipment, modular equipment that we use in libraries and laboratories and that kind of stuff.”

Wilson said Friday more demolition will get underway at Franciscan Health’s Central campus.

“See, you have a wall half out there,” Wilson said as he gave News 18 a tour of the site. “Everything is marked for them for what goes and what stays phase that we’re in.”

Wilson said St. Elizabeth’s School of Nursing will eventually move into the newly renovated area.

“Our goal is, and we’re currently on schedule, to open this space next summer,” Wilson explained. “Probably, next August time frame so that new nursing school students begin their nursing school career in this new space.”

Wilson said there will be some major changes to the renovated space.

“It’s modern space, it’s all wireless and we’ll enhance that kind of support when they get over here,” Wilson said.

This is compared to its current building across the street from the 1920s.

“There are few electrical plugs, limited wireless, the heating and cooling now will be in a modern building,” Wilson said. “That 1920s building isn’t.”

Wilson said the old Intensive Care Unit at the central campus will now be used to house a state-of-the-art simulation lab for students and other health professionals.

“We can build into this unit,” Wilson explained. “The control room, if you will, will be for educators to use to talk to instructors and students in one of these rooms who are simulating a real, live patient care kind of event.”

The simulation lab will cost about $2 million.

Wilson said their goal is to make the simulation training facility available for other nursing students and health professionals in the area.